Studies of retrospective voting in Great Britain largely focus on economic issues, and pay little attention to whether electors associate economic changes (both positive and negative) with government policy. This paper analyses voters' retrospective evaluations of nine separate policy areas (over three main policy domains) in 1997, showing that the more negative evaluations of government policy over the previous five years the less the likelihood of an elector voting for the incumbent party - especially if in addition the main opposition party is viewed favourably. This provides strong support for the reward-punish model.
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